The Sponsored Communication Messages fail to Create Awareness of Two Third Gender Principle among Political Parties: A case Study of Jubilee Alliance.

By

Jacqueline Njambi Kamau

+254724216046

Jacqueline.kamau@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

This study explores the role of Sponsored Communication Messages in the success of failure of creating awareness of Two Third Gender Principle in Jubilee Alliance. The study has analyzed the nature of Sponsored Communication Messages placed on K24 TV and Daily Nation and the level of information among party leaders and members. In addition, the study establishes the impact of Sponsored communication Messages. Jubilee Alliance as a case study is used to measure the extent to which Two Third Gender Principle has been considered in formation of administration and management of the party, in the membership and party leadership. The study uses Spiral of Silence theory and Social learning theories to explain the impact of Sponsored communication Messages on the awareness of Two Third Gender Principle. Sampling was done using stratified and simple random sampling methods to come up with a sample of 94 respondents. Data was collected using Focus Group Discussion for party officials and questionnaire for other respondents. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics, SPSS for quantitative data while documentation, colour coding and numbering systems were used to analyze qualitative data. The response rate was 87%. Majority of the respondents were female at 52%. The study established that majority of the respondents had not watched or read Sponsored Communication Messages. However, majority of those who watched and read Sponsored Communication messages rated them to be highly informative and persuasive. The participants of Focus Group Discussion had a good understanding of Two Third Gender Principle. They explained the merits and a few demerits of creating awareness and implementing Two Third Gender Principle within structures of Jubilee Alliance member parties. The findings of the study indicate that Sponsored Communication Messages have not been effective in emphasizing the importance of implementing Two Third Gender Principle among political parties of Jubilee Alliance.

 INTRODUCTION

In both local and global level, women’s leadership and political participation is restricted by laws and culture among other factors. In political Parties like Jubilee Alliance (JA), women are underrepresented as members and officials. To address this challenge there are International commitments to women’s representation. This include The Beijing Platform for Action that calls for removing barriers to equal participation and The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women  that upholds women’s right to play a part in public life (World Bank, 2015).

Gender equality is one of the Sustainable Development Goals. In Africa, there is a 50-50 declaration by African Union (AU) to be achieved by 2030. These are some of the global efforts on legislative and constitutional reforms to ensure women are able to r access to political spheres as voters, candidates and elected party officials (World Bank, 2014).

Recognizing this, The Constitution of Kenya (2010), domesticates these commitments to safeguard human rights and fundamental freedoms and entrenches the concept in article 81 (b):“Not more than two thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender”. The Two Third Gender Principle (TTGP). To date, Kenya is a signatory to various international and regional policies. These include the, The African Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human, The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa. Thus, the government has to advocate these principles and attain equitable gender representation (Melcote & Steeves, 2001).

Sponsored Communication Messages act as catalysts for awareness and implementation of Two Third Gender Principle in Kenya. According to Gender Datasheet (2013), local media is sponsored by Development partners to increase and promote the roles of Nominated Women Senators, Members of County Assemblies and Members of Parliaments who are nominated or elected under the Gender Principle, Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries.

Role of Sponsored Communication Messages

The low proportional representation of women in political and governance structures in Kenya’s political parties has brought about the introduction of gender quotas. In The National Alliance Party (TNA) one of the members of  Jubilee Alliance  (JA) out of 72 Members of Parliament (MPs) only 13 are female (Gender Datasheet, 2013). The Constitution of Kenya (2010), Article 81 (b) requires the electoral system to adhere to TTGP. Even though Article 177 that requires Article 81(b) and article 27 (8) of the Constitution of Kenya (2010), to be complied with, TTGP has not been attained both at the National Assembly and Senate and County Assemblies (World Bank 2015).

According to World Bank (2015), there is low representation of women in elective posts. In Kenya National Assembly there are 349 members only 86 are women 20.7%. The same problem is in the party under study, among the 12 top party officials in Jubilee Alliance one is a woman and she holds a member position in the secretariat. In The National Executive Board (NEB) only 3% are women (Mzalendo, 2015). The Women League in Jubilee Alliance has attempted to lobby for inclusion of the women as top officials of the party but in vain. UN WOMEN funded printing of Newspaper Adverts and Fliers for the Women League in order to persuade the Party Leaders to include more women in the administration and management of the party. Thus, development partners such as UN WOMEN, USAID and Action AID seek to alleviate this problem through sponsored communication messages. However, underrepresentation of women is still evident (Oakley, 1972).

It is important to seek for a solution to create awareness and enhance implementation of the Two Third Gender Principle in the party officials, National Executive Council, National Executive Board and The Party Secretariat. If this is not done, decisions by the Executive bodies maybe overruled due to lack of women representation and the party primaries will be gender discriminative since women concerns will not be represented in the party (Mzalendo, 2015). This study therefore seeks to determine the role of sponsored communication messages on creating awareness leading to implementation of Two Third gender principle and to determine the impact of Sponsored Communication Messages on Jubilee Alliance.

This study will explore the changes that Jubilee Alliance is making in order to accommodate Gender Principle in the party structures after interaction with sponsored communication messages. Through this study, there will be increased awareness of the Two Third Gender Principle and the importance of implementing it. The study uses Jubilee Alliance as a case since it is a national coalition with membership in all the forty seven counties unlike other political parties that have regional strongholds and no representation in some parts of the country (Jubilee Alliance, 2012).

The study will enhance realization of Article 81 (b) on TTGP in political representation during and after the 2017 elections within Jubilee Alliance. Increased awareness of TTGP among MPs in JA through this study will lead to enacting of the law envisaged in Article 177 (1) (c) and 100 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010. This lead to   increased  representation of the marginalized groups who include women, persons with disabilities and  youth.

UNWOMEN, Action Aid, USAID and UKAID are among organizations that sponsor the messages. The study will use them to measure the impact of the messages. In addition, Kenyans especially members of Jubilee Alliance will get up to date information of the implementation of Two Third gender Principle in the party.

The Sponsors of Communication messages advertise at K24 since it is a national television and it is objective in broadcasting political issues. Daily Nation Newspaper is selling the largest number of copies and is accessible online hence advertisements are placed in this newspaper largely compared to other stations and newspapers (Africa Woman and Child Feature Service, 2015).

Sponsored Communication Messages aim at persuading party leaders and officials to include women in decision making positions and elect women leaders for representation. This is through use of persuasion. All persuasion begins with capturing attention. Without attention, persuasion is impossible. Thus, the messages use very memorable images and words that are likely to generate attention (Nageshwar & Rajendra, 2012).

To enhance persuasion, Sponsored Communication messages are specific, easy to remember, expose expectations and goals. They provide targets for persons, households and community in order to be of use (Berlo, 1960).

It is important to note that TTGP is only a beginning, political will is required to enhance the expectations of the TTGP are implemented. Key participants include political parties, Non-Governmental Organizations, The Acting Registrar of Political Parties and Sponsored communication messages are very crucial in working together to enhance the achievement of TTGP (Ochiel, 2013).

The Two Third Gender Principle

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Rwanda has the largest number of Women Party officials in Africa. 40% of the party Secretariat is composed of women. Democrats in the United States of America (USA) are known to be inclusive of women with Hillary Clinton as their presidential candidate in 2016. Alliance Party in The United Kingdom has 10 % women representation in its National Executive Body (NEB) (Mufford, 2011).

Although the number of women representatives in parliament has improved, it is way below the required 33.3% if the TTGP is to be observed. In the last presidential elections 2013, there was Hon. Martha Karua a female candidate. In spite of this there have only been two presidential candidates since independence (Gender Data Sheet, 2013).

As stated by World Bank (2015), compared to other countries, Kenya is way behind in inclusion of women in leadership positions. The introduction of TTGP is a milestone but its implementation is way below the expectations. Kenya being a signatory to various global laws on women leadership, it is yet to implement TTGP (World Bank 2015).

Jubilee Alliance (JA) is a legal coalition registered under Political Parties Act (2012). JA belongs to men, women, youth and children from every part of this country, Kenya (Jubilee Alliance, 2012). The Alliance structures include Jubilee Alliance Interim National Executive Council, Party leaders are H. E. Uhuru Kenyatta and H.E. William Ruto Deputy President, Co-Chairpersons Hon. Noah Wekesa and Hon. Kiraitu Murungi. The Alliance has a National office and they plan to move to the counties to roll out the county programs (Mzalendo, 2015).

In 2013 JA was formed by coming together of The National alliance (TNA) and United Republican Party (URP) and Republican Congress (RC) and other parties, promised to implement TTGP in its party and in formation of its government. The first cabinet had five women and had met TTGP requirements. Its appointments and recruitments into Public Service Commission (PSC) have at least met the gender principle. In addition, the alliance has the most number of nominated MPs, MCAs and Senators (Africa Woman and Child Feature Service, 2015).

The National Governing Council has all elected and nominated Jubilee Governors, their deputies, MPs, Senators, while Speakers and Majority Leaders represents County Assemblies. The national representation of the party has set high standards of future politics of Kenya. The JA has a renewed resolve and dynamism to change the political history of the nation (Jubilee Alliance, 2012).

Constitutional gender quotas are the most effective and critical means of ensuring women are represented in political parties. Countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania and Rwanda have made very good progress in ensuring women’s representation through constitutional gender quotas in the structures and running of political parties (World Bank 2015).

The Spiral of Silence Theory was proposed by a German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. The Spiral of Silence Theory insists that individuals have a fear of isolation, that results from the fact that a social group or the society may isolate, neglect, or exclude members because of members' opinions (Neolle-Neumann, 1993).

According to Neolle-Neumann (1993), this fear of isolation as a result leads to remaining silent instead of voicing opinions. Media is an important aspect that relates to both the dominant idea and people's perception of the dominant idea.

Lee (2013), shares that Spiral of Silence Theory is applied to establish the need to raise other voices for a specific agenda. The Sponsored communication messages are put in place to counter dominant voices and influence implementation of TTGP among political parties Jubilee party of Kenya.

In this study, The Spiral of Silence Theory is of great value in explaining why the sponsored communication messages are used as alternatives to the dominant voice that is condemning women leadership. The study will use the theory to explain isolation of women in Jubilee Alliance and how a different voice is being used to enhance awareness and thereafter implementation of Two Third Gender principle within the party (Neolle-Neumann, 1993).

The proponent of Social Learning Theory Albert Bandura (1977), believed that direct reinforcement could not explain all types of learning. His theory added a social element, stating that people can learn new information and manners by watching other people known as observational learning. According to Gong (2014), this learning can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviors.

Bandura (1977), stipulates three models of observational learning; A live model, which entail an actual individual demonstrating behavior. A verbal instructional model, involves descriptions of a behavior. A symbol model has real or fictional characters displaying behavior in books, television programs, or online media (Bandura, 1977).

The two third gender principle will be known and implemented through change of beliefs towards women. These beliefs are acquired through observation, vicarious learning, and assimilation of cultural stereotypes (Kassilly & Onkware, 2010).  Thus by providing sponsored communication messages that have consistent pictures, documentaries of women leaders, and current women leadership in other countries. It is expected that political parties will be able to understand and integrate women in the party structures. Social learning theorists state that the exposure and consistence stress will lead to implementation of TTGP by political parties.

The main goal of sponsored communication message is to influence and crate awareness. According to Miller (2011), social learning theory suggests that SCM influences people via modeling. Modeled behavior is most likely to be adopted when there is attractive model whose behavior is rewarded. Therefore, Sponsored Communication messages create a positive image of women participation in political parties and thus increases the demand for more women in management of political parties (Kassilly & Onkware, 2010).  

This theory is important to the study since it explains use of Sponsored Communication Messages to reinforce information on TTGP. Sponsored Communication Messages use this theory by highlighting achievement of female leaders and hence observational learning. Thus the study will use this theory in determining the degree of this observational learning and the impacts on implementation of Two Third Gender principle (Berlo, 1960).

Sponsored Communication messages through mass media raise awareness and shape the implementation of Two Third Gender Principle in Jubilee Alliance. This is influenced by factors such as political, economic and cultural factors, individual traits and character such as ego or male chauvinism. The result of this is inclusion of more women in party structures and party affairs, election and appointments of women in leadership and decision making positions when party leaders are reached by the sponsored communication Messages.

According to Kombo & Tromp (2006), the relationship between variables is outlined in a CF. In this study, the independent variable are mass media, sponsored messages, TTGP, then the intervening variables are political, economic  and cultural factors , individual traits and character. While the dependent variable are increased women participation, election and appointment of women

Thus, Sponsored Communication Messages aired on K24 is shaped by interest of media owners and editorial policies. These factors result in lack of awareness on implementation of Two Third Gender Principle and hence less participation in political party decision making positions (Oakley, 1972).

This study has identified a research gap in the impact of Sponsored Communication Messages on the implementation of Two Third Gender principle among political parties. Literature review indicates that implementation of Gender Principle has been analyzed at National Assembly, Senate and County Assemblies leaving out political parties despite political parties nominating candidates for election (Mzalendo, 2016).

Therefore, it is important to determine the implementation of Gender Principle within party structures. They have impact on the number of women candidates nominated depending on the representation of women in the party (Kassilly, & Onkware, 2010).

The research site will be Jubilee Alliance Headquarters at King'ara road, Lavington. Nairobi, Kenya and offices of UNWOMEN at UN Gigiri Complex, UN Avenue
Block M, Ground Floor and USAID office at Village market.

Kothari (2008), describes research design as the structure of a research. Research design constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. This study will use mixed method approach. This means it will have both qualitative and quantitative data. This will eliminate limiting view of qualitative or quantitative research method that may be misleading. Mixed method approach will provide different paradigms and help to gain a holistic perspective. In addition, there are gains in breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration (Lindlof & Taylor, 2002).

A case study of Jubilee Alliance will be used since it is a national party with membership throughout the country and has well established party structures. This case will make the study excels at bringing an understanding of a complex issue and add strength to what is already known through previous research. According to Skate (1995), case studies put emphasis on a detailed contextual scrutiny of a specific number of actions and the way they are related.

The target population of this study is both male and female aged 20-75 years since they can relate with and understand the Two Third Gender Principle and its implementation. They include National Party Officials who are 17 in number, 1500 members of National Executive Council, 100 members of National Executive Body, 30 Staff Members of Communication Departments of Sponsoring organization. Total Study population is 1647 persons.

In this study, sample population was drawn from Party records and membership databases. In addition, the sponsoring organizations provided lists of staff members in their communication departments.

This research will use Stratified Sampling and Simple Random Sampling methods. Stratified sampling, the populations apply a number of distinct categories that are organized into separate "strata." In this study include party officials, Members of National Executive Council, Members of National Executive Body, and staff members Communication Departments of Sponsoring organization.

The Study data will be collected through Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and use of questionnaire. Questionnaires will be used for the National Executive Council, National executive Body and Staff members of Sponsors. This study will apply both participating pretests to five people and undeclared pretests to five people among the study sample. Data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics which will involve use of frequencies and percentages for quantitative data. This research will also use SSPS data analysis approach for quantitative data.

The University of Nairobi School of Journalism and Mass Communication provided a Certificate of Fieldwork on the study allowing the researcher to embark on data collection. The certificate had an explanation that will be given to the respondents on the purpose of the study and seek their consent to participate. The respondents were guaranteed of confidentiality regarding the information they are to give. Before each session, respondents were asked to sign a consent form. All respondents were allowed to ask any clarification they need.

Response rate is the percentage of subjects who respond to questionnaires. A response rate of 50% is considered adequate for analysis and reporting (Mugenda, 1999). The researcher had selected a sample of 94 respondents for the study. The questionnaires were distributed among party members, NEC, NEB and Party officials formed the Focus Group Discussion. 40 (48.8%) of the respondents were male while 42 (51.2%) were female. This shows that women are majority in party membership despite the few leadership position offered to them within Party leadership structures. Majority of the respondents (43.9%) were aged 20-30 years, 19.5% were aged 30-40years, 17.1% were aged 40-50 years, 14.6% were aged 60-70 years and 4.9% were aged 50-60 years.

Respondents were asked to state their position in the party. 74.4% of the respondents were members of the National executive council, 12.2% were members of the National executive Body, 7.3% were staff members of Jubilee Alliance and 6.1% were National Party Officials. This shows that the majority of the respondents (74.4%) were members of the National Executive Council. Respondents were asked if they had any disabilities.  85.4% said that they had no disabilities, while 14.6% said they had disabilities.

The study sought to find out the party that the respondents belonged to. 35 (42.7%) respondents were members of URP party, 32 (39.0%) were members of the TNA party, 6(7.3%) were members of RP, 5(6.1%) were members of NARC and 4 (4.9%) were members of other parties in the Jubilee Alliance. Majority of the respondents were therefore members of URP party while the minority were members of other parties.

Respondents were asked how they would rate the informative nature of the sponsored communication message on Two Thirds Gender Principle. 34.1% rated the message as highly informative, another 34.1% rated it as informative, 26.4% rated it as neutral and 4.9% rated it as non informative. No respondent rated the message as highly non-informative. Majority of the respondents therefore rated the message as highly informative and informative.

The Center for Gender Advocacy (2016), recommends that SCM should be highly informative and should persuade the viewers to support women leaders. Majority of the respondents rated the SCM as highly informative and informative. Thus the SCM used were effective in promoting implementation of TTGP within party structures of Jubilee Alliance. Majority of the participants in the FGD described the messages as being very informative. This shows that SCM had very important information that could be used by the participants to inform their decisions of the membership and political party structures based on gender among other factors.

Respondents were asked to state the extent to which they agreed with the statement ‘The sponsored communication message I have watched or read has persuaded me to support, vote or nominate women leaders’. Majority of the respondent (46.3%), strongly agreed, 39% agreed, 9.8% were indifferent, 4.9% disagreed while and no respondent disagreed. This means that  SCM were persuaded  the respondents to support or nominate women leaders.

The study sought to find out whether the sponsored communication on Two Thirds Gender Principle clearly demonstrated women as good leaders. Majority of the respondents (82.9%) said that the message portray had read or watched portrayed women as good leaders while 17.1% said that the message did not portray women as good leaders.

In Gender advocacy messages women should be portrayed as skilled and competent leaders (Donatella, 2013).This has been achieved by SCM since majority of the respondents felt that SCM portrayed women as good leaders. 

The study sought to determine the impact of Sponsored Communication Messages on Jubilee Alliance. Respondents were asked whether sponsored communication messages had influenced their understanding of the Two Thirds Gender Principle. The majority (58.5%) said it had influences their understanding of the Two Thirds Gender Principle and 41.5% said it had not influenced their understanding.  This shows that majority of the respondents were influenced by SCM  and had a better understanding of TTGP.

Respondents were asked to state the changes that had been made by Jubilee Alliance after interacting with sponsored communication messages on Two Thirds Gender Rule. Majority of the respondents (34.1%) said that the alliance had made few changes, 24.4% said it had made many changes, 14.6% said it had made very few changes, 14.6% said it had made no changes while 12.2% felt that it had made very many changes.  This is an indication of little effort to implement the TTGP within Jubilee Alliance Structures.

Respondents were asked to state the positions created within Jubilee Alliance to accommodate women leaders within the coalition’s structures. They said that the Jubilee Alliance had created the following positions: Ministry of Gender, UWEZO Funds for women. The following positions were created within the parties, Women League, Deputy Secretary General. Warembo na Uhuruto was formed in all parties affiliated to Jubilee Alliance. This shows that Jubilee Alliance had created a few positions to accommodate women leaders.

The study sought to find out from the national party officials the percentage of female leaders in the positions of senator, Members of parliament, governor and deputy governor. This included both elected and nominated leaders.  23.3% of senators were women, 16.6% of deputy governors were women, 13.3% of members of parliament were women and there were no women governors. The findings therefore show that the Two Thirds Gender Principle was not adhered to in among leaders who were members of the Jubilee Alliance.

As per the questions asked, the researcher managed to have a focused group discussion with a TNA and URP party official at party headquarters. Majority of party officials are aware of TTGP as it is in the constitution. The participants responses outlined the benefits of implementing Two Third Gender rule as follows. First, there is increased representation of women. Decisions concerning women issues in the party are arrived at from an informed perspective since information about women is availed by both men and women. TTGP is also included in Political Parties Constitutions. Thus, implementing TTGP means implementing party constitution to that allows for affirmative action. There increased membership since more women are recruited and they register and become active members of the political parties.

In addition, there increased public participation within the party since both women and men participate in the party activities. This also gives women representation of women within administration and management of the parties.

The participant responded indicating that leaders they had seen in Sponsored Communication Messages include; Hon.Wangari Mathaai, Hon. Phoebe Asiyo, Hon. Julia Odhiambo, Hon. Alice Muthoni Wahome, Hon. Prisilla Nyokabi, H.E First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, H.E Racheal Ruto and Prof. Olive Mugenda. This means that party officials party felt that strong women leaders who are performers and have set best standards have been used to promoted women leadership  

The part officials have a good understanding of Two Third Gender Principle as provided for in the constitution. The respondents also indicated that members of their political parties had very minimal levels of understanding of Two Third Gender Principle. They indicated that parties had intentions of creating awareness of TTGP among their members before the 2017 general elections. 

The respondents described the implementation of Two Third Gender Principle within Jubilee Alliance using he following examples of positions created within the political parties Deputy Secretary General position reserved for women, Party women representative in the NEC. TNA had a female Executive Director Winnie Guchu. It is a requirement within JA to have Young women groups in the parties such as Warembo na  Uhuruto. Further efforts towards implementation of TTGP include having bloggers and social media partners that have complied with TTGP requirements.

The participants indicated that SCM had a great impact on the leadership of Jubilee Alliance. The implementation of TTGP has been great considering that 30% of the staff members in the four parties are women. It was noted that women had been given the deputy positions and this was likely to change as the parties implemented TTGP fully.

The participants observed that parties within Jubilee alliance had become stronger and membership increased by accommodating and promoting women leaders. The Party Officials also noted that party nomination fees for women persons with disability and youths was reduced by half during party nominations in 2013 and majority of the party members appreciated and took advantage of the waiver.

The only disadvantage of implementing TTGP stated by the participants was that sometimes women have conflicts within themselves and this leads to disagreements in making decisions.

Thus, the participants had interacted and understood SCM and had made changes within the parties after implementing TTGP. In addition, participants stated that women are more united and are committed to the development of the parties compared to men.

According to the findings, majority of the respondents had not seen the sponsored communication message on K24 T.V station and majority of those who had watched the message had only watched it once in a week. Majority of the respondents (58.5%) had not seen the message in the Daily Nation newspaper.

Majority of those who had seen the message found it either informative or highly informative. Majority of the respondents who had seen the message were persuaded by the message to support, vote or nominate women leaders. Most of the respondents were of the opinion that the sponsored message they had read or watched clearly portrayed women as good leaders.

A 68.3% majority of the respondents understood the Two Thirds Gender Principle and were able to describe the principle correctly. The respondents who understood the principle gave benefits of implementing the principle. Majority of the respondents said that implementing of the principle would be beneficial since women were more compassionate leaders. The study has established that only 7.3% of those who have interacted with Sponsored communication Messages were persuaded that implementing Two Thirds Gender Principle was not beneficial. This shows that majority of the respondents found it beneficial to implement the Two Thirds Gender Principle thus having more women in leadership. This direct reinforcement using women leaders in Sponsored Communication Messages can be used to account for the learning the importance of implementing the Two Third Gender Principle as indentified through Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977).

Majority of the respondents rates the Jubilee alliance as very good in the implementation of the Two Thirds Gender rule and the minority rated the Alliance poor in terms of implementing the Two Thirds Gender rule.

However, 24.4% of respondents agreed and 19.5% strongly agree with the statement that the Two Thirds Gender Principle should not be implemented and women should therefore compete for positions with men. These findings are consistent with Noel-Neumann’s (1993) claims that fear of isolation leads to remaining silent instead of voicing opinions. Due to the minimal number of women in the structures of Jubilee Alliance there is isolation and the messages passed by alternative voice through sponsored communication messages has not been successful since majority of the respondents think it is not important to implement the Two Third Gender Principle. 

The study sought to find out the impact of sponsored communication messages on Jubilee Alliance. Majority of the respondents (58.5%) said that the sponsored communication messages they had read or watched influenced their understanding of the Two Thirds Gender Principle.

 Majority of the respondents indicated that Jubilee alliance only made few changes after interacting with Sponsored communication messages on Two Thirds Gender Principle. The alliance had however created new positions to accommodate women leaders. The positions included the Ministry of Gender, UWEZO Funds for women, Women League, Deputy Secretary General (TNA and URP) and Warembo na Uhuruto.

Most (68.3%) respondents indicated that Jubilee Alliance had not implemented the Two Thirds Gender Principle in their alliance. This was confirmed by finding out the percentage of women leaders who were members of the alliance. Of all senators, governors, deputy governors and members of parliament who were members of the alliance, only 13.9% were women. This falls way short of the 33.3% proposed by the Two Thirds Gender Principle.

According to Lindlof  &Taylor (2002), a conclusion is a deduction or inference that a researcher can come up with based on the findings of the study. From the findings of the study, the researcher concluded that Sponsored Communication Messages were not popular among respondents since most of them had neither seen them on television nor in Daily Nation newspaper. However, the messages were informative and persuasive and demonstrated women as good leaders.

The level of information given by the sponsored messages was adequate to enable a better understanding among respondents. However, respondents were not in support of the Two Thirds Gender Principle and were of the opinion that women should compete for leadership positions with men.

Sponsored communication messages influences the understanding of the Two Thirds Gender Principle among respondents. However, it did not have a significant impact in the Jubilee Alliance since it had not implemented TTGP.

Smith(1993), defines recommendation as what the researcher suggests should be done in future in order to improve or clarify the results of the study as well as what should be done to solve the problem. The following recommendations were suggested based on the findings of the study:

The government should develop policies and laws to ensure that no more than two third of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender. These policies should be made within The National Assembly to cater for national government and The Senate to cater for county governments.

Political parties to implement the Two Third Gender Principle in their party structures, party list for nominations, elective positions nominations, national party officials, National Executive Council, National Delegates Congress and National Governing Council. This will ensure that women are given better opportunities for election since they will get nominations of political parties in their strongholds.

Political Parties to be funded in order for them to develop SCM, conduct civic education among their members and create awareness on the Two Third Gender Principle (TTGP). In Addition, amounts allocated by development partners to Non-Governmental Organizations to be increased so that they can develop more content for SCM and make them persuasive and available on both weekdays and weekends.

The government should also to come up with policies and enhance capacity building and create awareness on The Two Third Gender Principle n Article 81 of The Constitution (2010). This should be done by the private sector and organizations such as churches, corporates, women and youth groups.

In future researchers can consider conducting study on Sponsored Communication Message (SCM) that is aired on radio, blogs, wikis and social media. This could add information of distribution of SCM among vernacular and national radio stations. A study could be conducted on other coalitions such as Coalition for Democracy and Reforms (CORD), Amani Coalition and any other political parties.

Other areas of future study include content development for SCM and implementation of Two Third Gender Principle in other organizations such as corporate, schools, universities, hospitals, churches and government institutions.

 

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